Verdala International School is located on the small Island of Malta in the central Mediterranean. It is situated half way between Italy and North Africa. The school itself is located in the district of Pembroke on the edge of the urban area that extends to the west of the capital Valletta. The name Verdala comes from the French Grandmaster de Verdala who led the Order of the Knights of St John from 1582 to 1595. Founded in 1976 as a day school to serve the children of expatriate families living in Malta, the VERDALA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (VIS) has gone through considerable change during its history. Initially sponsored by an American oil company, Verdala grew to over 400 students in its early days. The withdrawal of the company from Libya resulted in a sharp decline in enrollment at VIS.
In 1985 the school reconstituted as a non-profit foundation, which currently operates under the name of The Verdala International School Foundation. In 1987, the school moved with 110 students to its current historic site at Fort Pembroke. Since that time, the school has grown to its current population of 522 students. Having outgrown the space initially provided within “the Fort”, the school obtained additional buildings and grounds from the government. The resulting six acre campus provides room for growth and development of the school in the foreseeable future.
The Foundation is charged by statute to operate an International School for the education of children of any sex, nationality, creed or ethnicity, and in particular, the dependents of international parents for whom the Anglo-American model of education is best suited.